How the Blossoms Have Died
by Imperial-sama
Summary: Yao looked at the bloody mass before him, wishing this was all a dream. But it wasn't. It was a living nightmare, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Set in Hetaoni. ChinaxJapan Hints of RussiaxLithuania. WARNINGS: Character death. some spoilers


**Hi everyone! I finally finished another one shot! This one is about Hetaoni, a really depressing game and of course, it has China/Japan. But wait! There's more! It also has hints of Russia/Lithuania. **

**WARNING: SPOILERS! I believe this takes place in...episode 16. So, if you haven't seen up to that part, you might want to steer clear. It's going to have a character death...sort of. There shall be blood! Also, there's going to be some angst...because this is Hetaoni, after all. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! If I owned Hetalia, ChinaxJapan would be the main focus of the whole series. And if I owned Hetaoni, the nations would use rainbow power to destroy the thing. RAINBOW POWER! **

**Well, without further ado, enjoy! **

How the Blossoms Have Died

China sighed, holding his head in his hands. He felt like a prisoner of war in this house, except now the enemy wasn't another country, it was a demon of some kind. He didn't know how long he and the rest of the countries were trapped in the mansion, time was so screwed up. Heck, they could go back in time with the use of a journal! He looked around the room, examining everyone.

Currently, England was drawing a magic circle because he wanted to test his magic. Apparently, when he regained all of his magical strength, he would turn into an angel. Russia was polishing his water pipe, wearing his creepy grin as usual. Italy was nervously pacing, stopping every now and then to look at England. America was in the corner, moping about something. The usually loud-mouthed nation didn't seem like himself ever since he returned from exploring the house. France was currently trying to flirt with...an invisible space? China quirked an eyebrow and then shook his head.

_'Must be some kind of withdrawal symptom_.' he thought. It seemed as if France couldn't go one day without trying to get in someone's pants.

China took his attention away from France, focusing on other nations. Spain and Germany were talking about...something. China couldn't quite make out what either of them were saying, but that didn't bother him. After all, it would be rude to eavesdrop. The Asian nation returned to his own thoughts, wondering about the well being of Prussia, Romano, and Japan. At the moment, those three nations were exploring some secret room, an annex of some sort. Lately, most of China's thoughts were about his 'little brother' and the thoughts were drifting farther and farther away from brotherly. The Chinese nation didn't know what it was, maybe it was being stuck in this house with the threat of death hanging over all of them. Maybe he just wanted Japan and him to get along again. Or...perhaps he was starting to feel something more for Japan? China only shook his head.

_'What am I thinking-aru? It's Japan...he's my little brother.'_

He couldn't love Japan, it would be...incest. Would it really count as incest? Now that China thought about it, he and Japan never had any blood relation. He just raised the younger Asian nation. China groaned, he wasn't good at dealing with complicated things.

"Would you look at that! I actually did it!" England exclaimed, breaking China's thoughts. The ancient nation whirled around, seeing Romano, Prussia, and Japan.

_'When did they get here-aru?'_

"Ooh~ amazing! Even I'm impressed." France complimented England, before turning to Japan. "Sorry for bringing you back all of a sudden, were you all in the middle of something?"

"We...we're saved...but why all of a sudden?" Romano stammered. He looked like he had seen the thing.

"Well, I found some lumps of magic on the fourth floor and I regained some of my magic. I can only assume my past self left them. Besides, Italy was worried you wouldn't come back and America is sulking about something." England answered.

"I'm not sulking about anything." America said, not moving from his corner. "And why did you teleport them in the first place? They didn't give you their consent!"

"What?" England asked, puzzled.

"Ve~ America, you have some blood on your clothes. Why don't you go take a bath?" Italy asked, trying to defuse the situation.

"This blood is from when England used his magic to-"

"Oh...I see." Italy cut America off, not wanting to hear any gory details.

"Italy, America. Why don't you both go take a bath? It'll give you both a nice change of mood." Germany suddenly cut in, sending a concerned glance toward Italy.

"O-okay...come on America, I'll use the bath right across from you!" Italy said, grabbing America's arm.

"...Fine." America replied, not looking at England. Italy led him to the bathroom, closing the door behind both of them.

"Forgive him, he's been through a lot." Germany said.

"It looks like it, didn't you guys say you ended up in the past?" Spain asked.

"Yeah, but in that time loop, England and Italy both died. England died trying to protect America, so he's a little...on edge right now. It was hard for all of us." Germany explained.

"Here, why don't you go take a bath too, Germany. You look a little tired." England suggested, making Germany blink a couple of times before nodding.

"You're right. I suppose I am a little...tired. Excuse me." Germany said, leaving to go take a bath.

After Germany was out of the room, Russia spoke up:

"Hey, I've been wondering, thanks to the journal, a lot of the enemies are gone. But...where did they go?"

"Well, if those three wound up in the past, then obviously the enemies would wind up in the past too." England answered.

China's eyes widened he realized what England just said. After a few moments, the words sunk in and England gasped.

"Oh no..." he said. "Someone get everyone out of the bathroom."

"I'll go get them." A voice said.

_'Whose voice was that...? Ca...something...'_ China thought.

"Alright, Canada. We'll wait here." France said, probably being the only one in the room to recognize the invisible nation. They waited in silence while Canada went to get everyone.

"WHAT?" a voice boomed, probably Germany.

_'Well, looks like they all know now.'_ China thought, rolling his eyes. In a matter of minutes, everyone was in the room, waiting to hear the awful news. England cleared his throat, beginning to speak.

"It has come to our attention that while South Italy, Prussia, and Japan were transported into the past, the monsters were transported as well."

"What? You mean the enemy wound up in the past too?" Italy shouted.

"If that's true, shouldn't we go back and kill them? We might be able to fight them now, but our past selves won't be able to. If someone dies back then, it could alter this reality." Germany added.

England nodded. "Exactly. Which is why we will split into two groups, one that will go into the past to defeat the enemy, and another group who will explore the house in this time period. Any objections?"

Everyone exchanged glances around the room. It didn't look like anyone had any objections...

"Very well, I will go into the past. Now who will join me?" France said, being the first to speak up.

"I guess I'll go into the past too." Russia also volunteered.

"I'll go too-aru." China said. He needed to get away from Kiku before he did something stupid.

"Then I'll go with you all, too." Canada said.

"Alright then, everyone who is returning to the past stand around the circle. Now I will entrust this journal to you all, when you are finished destroying all of the monsters, just open the journal to the last page and you will be transported back here. Also, do _not_ interact with our past selves in anyway whatsoever. Are we clear?" England finished his statement by raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. Well then, we'll be back from our killing spree soon. Take care everyone." France said, taking the journal from England and taking his place near the magic circle. Russia, China, and Canada followed suit, also taking places near the magic circle. England began chanting and in a flash of light, the four nations were in the past.

They were all by the front door, one of the obstacles that kept them in the house. China blinked, looking around. They weren't in the safety of their small shelter anymore and the enemy could strike at any time.

"Well, how about we split into two groups? This way, we can cover more ground." France suggested.

"Da! I'll go with comrade." Russia agreed, slinging an arm around China's shoulders.

"Alright-aru." said Chinese man said, shrugging.

"I guess that means I get to go with France then..." Canada said.

"Oui, Mathieu, you are very lucky." France said seductively, wiggling his eyebrows a little. He then turned to Yao and Ivan.

"We will meet on the third floor when when we are done. Mathieu and I will explore the first and second floors, and you two will search the third and fourth floors. Is that alright?"

"Da, just don't get killed." Russia replied, wearing his creepy grin.

"Très bien. We shall see you both soon." France said, already leading Canada away.

_'Poor Canada...'_ Yao thought, watching the North American nation as he was dragged away by the French man. They both walked down the stairs, leaving China and Russia alone.

"Well, I guess we should get going too, da?" Russia asked, removing his arm from his friend's shoulder.

"Yeah. We should see if there are any more enemies-aru." The two mean started to walk down the hall.

Yao knew he should focus on his surroundings, but he was unable to. No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts just kept going back to Kiku. The island nation seemed to be dominating most of his thoughts lately. Yao thought of the first day he and Kiku met, centuries ago...

* * *

><p><em>"Aiyaah, everyday brings a new power struggle. It's exhausting." A younger China sighed, walking through the bamboo forest. His limbs were aching quite a bit and he needed to meditate. As he walked toward his meditation spot, he saw a child.<em>

_'There's someone I don't know over there.' Yao thought, walking over. As the Chinese man approached, the smaller nation looked up, giving Yao a dead pan stare._

_"You must be new around here-aru. You're very small. It must be tough being born in this confined area." Yao said, bending down to the tiny nation's level._

_The young nation continued to stare at the ancient nation with the same dull stare._

_"I'm China-aru! If there's anything you want to know, just ask! What's your name-aru?"_

_"Konichiwa, China where the sun sets. I am Japan, where the sun rises."_

_"How rude-aru!"_

* * *

><p>"Hm...that's probably not when I started to like him..." Yao mumbled to himself. Maybe it was that one night when they stared at the moon together, when Japan insisted that there was a rabbit pounding mochi on the moon. Come to think of it, when they first encountered their enemy in this house, the first thing China thought of was Japan...mainly protecting him. There were also some...explicit dreams China had about his 'little brother' at times. But did that mean he loved him?<p>

"It looks like this floor is good, da?" Russia commented, turning toward China.

"Huh? Oh, yeah-aru. Let's check out the fourth floor next."

They walked up the stairs and onto the fourth floor, beginning to examine it. While they were doing this, Ivan decided to ask Yao a question.

"Comrade, do you have a weapon?" He questioned his Chinese friend.

"No-aru. I only have my martial arts." Russia frowned.

"That's no good, comrade. You need a weapon, da?"

"Well, it's not like I can pull a weapon out of thin air-aru."

"I can pull an extra one out of by coat though."

"Well, yeah I suppose that's true-aru...wait, what?" Yao asked, turning toward his friend. He watched as the Russian man unzipped his coat, revealing a couple of swords.

"I had Japan make me a couple of extra weapons. Just fighting with your bare hands won't do you any good here, da?" Russia said, taking a sword and holding it out to China.

"Take it, comrade."

The ancient nation stared at the item for a moment before taking it. He examined the weapon, swinging it a couple of times for good measure. It was a good weapon for him, easy to wield and use.

"Thank you-aru."

Russia smiled. "Da. I don't want my friend to die."

Yao smiled. "Yeah, same here-aru."

The two nations continued to search the floor, making sure to check all of the rooms. Yao thought it was a little strange that they didn't encounter any monsters yet, considering a bunch of them were transported here. He just hope none of the things altered the future timeline.

Ivan looked in another room, smiling at...something. Yao couldn't see what his friend was looking at because he was leaning against the opposite wall. He walked over, peeking over Ivan's shoulder and seeing the very thing he feared.

In the middle of the room, there was a demon, except this one looked different from the others. This one was massive compared to the original monster, sporting a bigger body and larger muscles. Hell, the thing looked like it would collapse under its own weight.

"It looks like we have an opponent~" Russia whispered, his eyes flashing with a kind of glee.

"Is that a mutated version of the original thing-aru?"

"I'm not sure...it's not the original enemy, but we still have to kill it. If it's mutated, it might be stronger, da?"

China gulped, knowing Russia could very well be right. He braced himself, clutching his new weapon tightly. Russia followed Yao's action, taking out his water pipe.

"Let's begin, da?"

And with those words, Russia bolted toward the thing. He managed to land a hit on his enemy when its back was turned, making the thing cry out in pain.

"Ha ha, you're no match for mother Russia." Ivan taunted, smiling.

The thing slowly turned around, a black substance dripping down from its back. It was now facing Russia, staring at him with its soulless eyes. Thinking his opponent was distracted, Ivan tried to land another hit. Instead, he found himself being lifted off the ground when the thing caught his weapon.

"Oh shit! Ivan-aru!" Yao cried, now joining the fight. He rushed forward, trying to save his friend. Seeing this, the thing swung Ivan to the side, ripping his weapon from his hands. The arctic nation hit the wall with a heavy thud, letting out a cry of pain.

"Ivan-aru! Are you all right?" Yao shouted, stopping.

"Da, I'm fine. Just get that thing!" Ivan yelled, pointing at the the thing. Yao nodded and ran ahead. The thing threw Russia's weapon to the other side of the room, away from the arctic nation. It then turned to Yao, stretching out its arms.

"YoU Will NoT EsCape..." It whispered, sending bolts of electricity toward China. The ancient nation couldn't dodge the attack and he was electrocuted.

"AAAHHHHHH!" He screamed, falling to his knees. Yao didn't expect the electric attack to be so powerful.

_'Damn...it's much stronger...'_ Yao thought, slowly rising after the electricity wore off. He forced himself to keep fighting.

Yao dashed forward again, dodging a swipe of the thing's claws. He countered the earlier attack with a swing of his sword, successfully landing a hit across the thing's chest. However, this time, the thing didn't hesitate to try to batter Yao. It attempted to slash the ancient nation again, grazing his arm when he tried to block the attack.

A thin trail of blood ran down Yao's arm, dripping onto the floor. He was already getting tired and his enemy still looked as strong as ever!

_'Where on earth is Russia?'_

Yao quickly recomposed himself, ready to strike again when he heard a voice.

"Comrade, get out of the way!" It was Russia, who had regained his weapon. A blue aura was surrounding him, a clear signal he was about to use winter as his weapon.

"Alright!" Yao replied, retreating to the farthest wall away from the thing.

Ivan glared at his enemy with pure hatred. He hated how this thing was able to beat him with almost no effort at all.

"I'll freeze you alive!" He yelled, making icicles shoot up from under the thing's feet.

Russia's brutal attack impaled the thing all over its body, making it cry out in agony. The attack also temporarily held the thing in place.

"Now, let's kill it!" Ivan yelled, rushing forward. Yao followed suit and together they assaulted the thing, adding on to its wounds. The thing fell to its knees, giving both nations access to its weak point: its forehead.

"Now die!" Yao cried as he jumped up in the air and impaled the thing's forehead. The thing gave one final screech of pain before slowly fading away, making China fall to the floor.

He slowly rose to his feet, turning toward Ivan.

"Well, we killed it-aru."

"Da, but it was much stronger this time."

"Oh well-aru. We survived and that's what counts. Now let's go check the rest of the floor."

"Da."

They were about to leave the room, but they heard a new voice.

"Hey, I think I heard something! Let's go check it out!" A voice with a British accent said.

"Oh no..." Yao gasped. It was England, this time-loop's England. If he saw them, it could alter the future time-loop...

"Oh? We should hide." Russia suggested.

"Crap-aru! There's nowhere to hide!" Yao hissed, quickly looking around the room. There weren't any closets or beds, only a table and a couple of book shelfs.

While Yao was panicking, Ivan saw a switch on the wall. Walking up to it, he pulled it all the way down, revealing a trapdoor.

"Comrade~ look what I found!"

"Hm? A trapdoor! Come on-aru, let's get in!"

Both men quickly went through the trapdoor, hoping England wouldn't see them. They heard foot steps above them along with two voices.

"Hm...that's odd, I could have sworn I heard something up here..." England said, obviously puzzled.

"You're probably just hearing things, you old man." Another voice teased. It sounded like America's.

"I was not, you twit! There was someone here...or something."

"Oh come on, Iggy! Let's go check the next floor, this is boring!"

"Would you just- hey!"

Foot steps were heard again, but it sounded like both England and America has left the room. Yao let out a sigh of relief, knowing he and Ivan were safe for now.

"We're good-aru. We didn't mess up the future."

"Da. Hey, this room is all...white. It reminds me of the winter in Russia..."

"Hm? Oh yeah...it is white, isn't it-aru?"

Yao looked around the room, seeing it was indeed, all white. The room was eerie for some reason...maybe it was because white was the color of mourning in Yao's culture. He turned around, seeing a white piano, stained with a red substance. A body was leaning against the side of the instrument. Yao's eyes widened.

_'No...it couldn't be-aru.'_

He slowly walked toward the corpse, taking a knee by it and brushing the hair out of its face. As Yao saw the face of the bloody nation, he gasped.

"K-Kiku?" He stammered. The island nation was cold to the touch.

"Please no-aru." The ancient nation whispered. "No, no, no."

Kiku was dead, _his Kiku_. Yao felt tears running down his face, his heart was breaking. He never wanted to see Kiku hurt again, especially not after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He sobbed, pulling Kiku's body closer to his.

"Please wake up, Kiku. Please be alive.." Yao whispered. "Don't leave...I didn't even tell you that I love you."

Russia just stared at his friend, unmoving. He watched Yao for a few minutes before he sighed and put a hand on Yao's shoulder.

"Comrade, am I going have to be blunt with you?" he asked.

China didn't answer. He only continued to sob.

"Comrade, little Kiku is dead in this time period. There is nothing you can do about it, you can only protect him in the future. Even so, there's a chance he can still die."

China slowly lifted his head, listening.

"The thing is going to kill anyone it can find, little Kiku is no exception. You have to stop crying over one dead version of him. Nothing will bring him back."

Part of China knew Russia was right, there was nothing he could do about Kiku's death in this time period. He couldn't revive Japan or go back in time on his own to prevent the island nation's death. But there was another part of him that was angry. At whom, he didn't know. Maybe he was angry Kiku had died, maybe it was Ivan's comments, or the demon that was trying to slaughter them.

Perhaps it was a combination of all three.

"You can't just cry every time something bad happens to little Kiku, da? Now come on, let's go. He doesn't matter in this time loop, he's dead. Accept it." Russia kept talking, his voice held cold indifference in it.

That comment made China snap.

"Don't say that-aru!"

"Comrade-" Russia was interrupted by Yao.

"I know he's dead, but you don't know what it's like to lose someone close to you in this house. Lithuania isn't in here and neither are any of your family members. You have absolutey no idea what I am going through-aru. The one you love is _outside._" Yao was now glaring at Ivan, standing up and letting Kiku's body rest against the piano.

"That's not true. Toris is outside, trying to help us. He's in danger and so are my sisters. You are just overreacting. Little Kiku is dead in this time period and he's not coming back. Deal with it. Accept it."

"Just stop it! You haven't seen the one you care about die!" Yao yelled, shocking Ivan.

"Comrade, let's go and meet the others. Once you see little Kiku alive and well, that will calm you down, da?" Ivan said, grabbing Yao's arm. The Russian man began to drag his friend away, Yao protesting.

"Let me go-aru!"

"Sorry, comrade, no can do. We're going back to the others. We checked both of our floors, and now it's time to go back to our current time loop."

"No-aru! I want to stay here with Kiku, now let me-AH!" Yao let out a shriek as Ivan hoisted him up and slung him over his shoulder.

"There, there, Jao Jao. Let's go back now." Ivan cooed, already beginning to walk outside.

"Let me go!" Yao yelled, struggling against Ivan's grip. However, the Russian man had him in an iron grip, making escape nearly impossible.

Ivan carried Yao all the way into the stairs before they heard the voice of a familiar Frenchman.

"There you two are!"

"Ah, France. You have finished checking your floors, da?"

"Oui. The floors looked fine, but what took you both so long? You were both taking so long that Mathieu and I became worried."

"Don't worry, we're fine. We just saw one monster. It's dead now." Russia reassured, showing a creepy smile.

"That's good...but, why are you carrying Mr. China like that?" Canada asked softly.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing." Ivan answered, avoiding the question.

"But-" Canada was cut off by Russia.

"I said it was _nothing_." Ivan repeated, sending a harsh glare toward the Canadian man.

Said Canadian man hid behind his French companion, scared of the Russian nation.

"Well, let's go back, shall we?" Francis suggested, trying to defuse the situation.

"Da." Ivan replied, smiling. He put China down, placing him to his right. France opened the journal to the last page and in a flash of light, they were all back in the safe room.

"Oh..you're all back." Japan said, eyes wide.

"Yep. All of the monsters are dead and nothing has changed in the past." France reported, smiling.

"How is everything over here?" Russia asked.

"America was injured, so we were forced to abandon our mission." England answered, his eyes moving toward the ground.

"AMERICA!" Canada yelled, rushing over to his brother's bedside.

China stepped forward, staring at Japan. He was relieved, to say the least. In this time period, Kiku was alive and well.

"Ki- Japan." Yao said, almost using the Asian nation's name.

"Hm? What is it, China-san?"

The ancient nation bit his lip before he started to speak.

"I..."

Kiku waited patiently for Yao's response. The words Yao wanted to say:

_'I love you.'_

The words that ended up coming out of his mouth:

"I...If you ever lose your life again, I'll never forgive you!" Yao shouted, startling Kiku.

"I...I'll try to keep that in mind." The younger Asian nation replied.

Yao mentally cursed. He couldn't tell Kiku how he felt, not until they were out of this God forsaken house. However, one thing was for sure.

He would protect Kiku with his life, no matter what.

**So, a few notes...In Hetaoni I recall China using a lot of martial arts, so I'm not sure if he had an actual weapon like a sword or club. In case he didn't, I made Russia give him one because come on, he has to be hiding something in that large coat of his. **

**French Translations: **

**Oui- Yes **

**Très bien- Very Good. (Thank you to Ejo97 for correcting my mistake!)**

**I think that's all I have to say for now...Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoyed this one shot and I'll try to write more as soon as possible! Sigh...if only it was still summer... **

**Anyway, reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! Especially constructive criticism. **


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